


Cry, Camellia

by yeen_meteor



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi fucking dies, And nothing of value was lost, Asphyxiation, Death, Gen, Hanahaki Disease, Haru being Haru, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:00:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27773419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeen_meteor/pseuds/yeen_meteor
Summary: Hanahaki Disease is everywhere, and love is a dangerous thing. Once you're smitten with someone, once the flowers start to bloom from within, you either win their affections over or you die.In a world such as this, it's very, very dangerous to be unlovable.If you spend your entire life pushing everyone away, if you leave a trail of destroyed lives in your wake, if you keep your enemies close and let nothing else in, well...When the time comes, they won't love you back.They'll watch you choke, and they'll laugh.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Okumura Haru
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Cry, Camellia

**Author's Note:**

> when the whole rarepair week thing was going on i saw a bunch of fics about hanahaki syndrome and i thought it was a really cool cute concept! but then i got to thinking about how morbid it had the potential to be, and, well, this happened
> 
> akechi suffering and dying horribly is my kink and i will live it vicariously through haru, i'm not sorry

It was a peaceful, idyllic afternoon at Cafe Leblanc. The sun was shining in through the door, and the scent of coffee was rich in the air. The news broadcast on the TV was doing its best to bring down the mood, though. The newscaster, voice faint through the almost-muted TV set, was talking about another tragic case of death by Hanahaki Syndrome.

It was an affliction of the lovesick, where one could become so enraptured with love for someone that they would become deathly ill if their affections were not returned. Flower petals would start to form in their throats, and in their lungs, in greater and greater frequency and number over the course of a month or two, until either the lovestruck victim suffocated, their love was reciprocated, or they by some miracle found success in therapy and abandoned their fixation. The current case on the news was one of the Detective Prince’s fangirls, one who had refused all attempts at medical care and all voices of reason. All idols had a death toll, something that was often the subject of dark jokes and comparisons, and the media-darling teen detective was no different.

The patrons of the cafe paid no mind to the news. Akira was at the stove, preparing a fresh batch of curry for the two familiar patrons sitting at the bar. Haru was taking another step on her quest to try every blend of coffee Sojiro had to offer, sipping at a cup made from Honduran SHG beans. Yusuke was seated beside her, patiently waiting for the food to be ready, and looking at some pictures Haru had on her phone.

“I’d never seen a flower grow like this before, I was honestly startled the first time I saw it in bloom!” Haru admitted with a smile and a bit of a blush. The picture she was showing him was of a pale purple daisy with a yellow center that was bizarrely stretched, several times longer than it was wide. “I did a bit of research, and this apparently isn’t too uncommon. It’s called a ‘fasciated’ flower! I knew right away I had to show you when I saw it, it just looks so… surreal!” 

Yusuke put a hand to his chin, and stared deeply at the strange, mutated flower. “I can see why one might be startled by such a sight… So uncanny, and so alien… Truly, nature’s imagination is still so far beyond that of any artist.” He took hold of his sketchbook and pencil, a focused look in his eye. “An innocent, beautiful thing, and yet one that plants the seed of unease and discomfort in its viewer… What  _ is _ the nature of revulsion, of those instincts that bring such unease? That is the question this flower is posing to me. I feel as though inspiration is pulling me in many different directions at once… I’m thankful you were able to grow something so fascinating, Haru. Might I ask you to send me this picture? I’d like to keep it.”

“Of course!” Haru seemed to hop a little in her seat, raising one of her hands up close to her chest and wearing the most excited, sweet smile on her face. “Oh, I’m so glad you appreciate it, I knew you would!”

Just then, the door opened with a  _ bang _ , and the sudden sound of coughing and hacking completely drowned out the conversation and the little bell on the door.

The three all gasped and stared as Akechi barged in, hair disheveled, face gaunt, hunched over with one arm holding his stomach, gasping for breath.  _ “Okumura, there you-” _ His voice was harsh, angry and raspy, and was cut short by another violent coughing fit, louder and more forceful than any the three of them had ever heard. 

A flurry of red flower petals spewed forth, and floated daintily to the ground. Blood splattered onto Akechi’s chin and the back of his hand, and he spit another petal onto the floor, and then punched the wall.  _ “Damn it all…!” _

Akira paled. “Akechi…? Is that… Hanahaki…?”

Yusuke looked unnerved. “That looks to be… A rather advanced case, you must have been holding this in for quite some time, now…”

Haru sipped her coffee.

Akechi scrambled over to the bar where Haru was seated, and hacked up another mess of petals. He wheezed, trying desperately to get some air into his lungs.

Haru picked up a single petal between two fingers, and inspected it closely. It was stained with a bit of his blood. “Hm…” She hummed, a soft, thoughtful smile on her face. “The camellias are in bloom, how lovely!”

“Okumura,  _ listen to me! _ ” Akechi barked, as sharp as he could given that it sounded like his lungs could give out at any moment. It was jarring just how palpable the desperation was in his voice. It was a sign of weakness he'd normally never let himself show.

Haru feigned obliviousness, and feigned a sweet smile as she looked down at him from her seat on the barstool. She had her legs crossed, her coffee cup in one hand and a saucer in the other. “What’s on your mind, Akechi-san?”

“Don’t  _ fucking _ play coy with me, you-” Akechi collapsed into another violent coughing fit, and more blood splattered out among the petals. He took in his next breath with a pained wheeze. As he opened his mouth to speak again, the pain in his eyes seemed to just get worse.

It took him a while to manage to spit the words out, angry and defeated. “I’ve fallen in love with you…!”

Haru looked down at him, with a soft smile.

She uncrossed her legs, and crossed them the other way.

She lifted her coffee cup to her lips, and took a small sip, closing her eyes and enjoying the taste.

She opened her eyes again, and sighed, soft and contented, looking down at the desperate panic in Akechi’s eyes.

“Hm… What a curious choice of words! I’m sure saying ‘I love you’ would’ve been easier on your poor lungs. You make it sound like it’s something that happened to you, not something you feel inside! I’m honestly a little hurt!”

She certainly didn’t look hurt. She was wearing quite a satisfied smile, in fact. A smile that grew ever-so-slightly as she saw a glint of real fear in Akechi’s eyes.

Akira and Yusuke couldn’t bring themselves to look away, as Akechi retched, and as the pile of stained-red petals on the floor before Haru only grew. He was choking, he was suffocating, and the few breaths he managed to sneak through the storm of flora seemed like they weren’t enough. It was clear he was fighting a losing battle.

He sounded strangled and terrified as he wheezed,  _ “Goddammit, Okumura, I…!  _ I love you…! You know damn well I mean it, look at the -” He hacked up another mess of petals, falling to his hands and knees as his legs completely gave out beneath him. “ _ Fu-uck!”  _ He choked out the word, full of frustration, all the frustration of someone standing right on the edge of a humiliating, young, unfulfilled death.

Akechi looked up to see Haru playing with one of the petals, staring at it and thinking. “Well, I suppose you do have a point… If it’s tearing you apart like this, it must be real! Maybe…” She looked down at him again, with big, sparkling eyes and an expression that was absolutely pitiless, but thoughtful nonetheless. “Maybe if you tell me just what it is you love so much about me… It can be so wonderful to be appreciated! Maybe you can make me happy!”

She was absolutely beaming at him, a pure and joyous smile as she watched his hands clench into fists, as she watched him shut his tear-soaked eyes and hang his head low, as she heard him weakly draw in a breath through the lively garden blooming in his respiratory tract.

Akechi held himself as steady as he possibly could, and tried to speak clearly through all the pain and clutter. “You keep… Impressing me, and proving me wrong about you…! You could’ve been so-” He started heaving and hacking again, and there was the sound of crying on his voice, exhausted and overwhelmed. “-So - So spoiled, but, riches be damned you’re a hard worker, and so dedicated, and - talen-  _ damn this -”  _ He choked again, and it sounded like he was going to hack up a lung, forcing his airway clear for a few more precious moments. “Fucking…! Talented! And so - ruthless, and driven and vicious like looking in a  _ damn mirror _ but you’re  _ not lying _ with all your kindness it’s all  _ real _ and -”

Haru hummed contentedly, and raised her cup of coffee to her lips for another long, slow sip as Akechi choked and screamed, as his lovesickness strangled him. The smile on her face was just peaceful, now. She didn’t take her eyes off the scene for a moment, though.

Akechi’s head hit the floor, buried in the pile of bloody petals. “And I - And - Damn me, I thought - I -” His stuttering was cut short by more choking, again - “I let myself imagine that I could - That you could - show me - I -”

The right words didn’t come to him in time, and he collapsed into another long, painful fit of choking until he was starting to turn blue in the face. This time, when he finally managed to draw in another breath, he let it back out as a frustrated, furious scream, his whole body quivering and his breath carrying petals out of his throat the whole way.

Haru had a focused, pondering look in her eyes, along with that subtle little grin. Akira recognized it immediately. Noir was thinking about just how to dissect this downed Shadow.

“You know, Akechi-san, I’m flattered, I truly am…” It was rare to see Haru’s faux-innocent smile shift to an outright devious smirk, but she looked very proud of herself right now. “But something’s been bothering me this whole time, about the way you greeted me.”

That sweetly, innocently mocking tone, the happiness in her eyes as she watched him suffer… Akechi felt a deeply sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Okumura, Okumura, Okumura.” Haru leaned in just a bit closer. “Even now, that’s how you choose to address me. I’ve never gone by that name among my friends, didn’t you know that? It carries a lot of uncomfortable weight, and I don’t like hearing it much at all. I’ve always preferred to be just Haru!”

She tut-tutted, slowly shook her head, and picked up her cup of coffee again. “For a lovestruck detective to have learned so little about me, and about what makes me happy…”

And just for an instant, she let real venom enter her voice. It was a soft, quiet anger, but it was anger, undisguised. “And besides that, you might have considered that the sound of my father’s name on your tongue makes me…” Her voice brightened up again, and she gave him her most cheerful smile yet, “Well, it makes me want to see you right where you are now!”

He screamed in frustration, and punched the ground with all the strength he had left. She sipped her coffee, with another contented hum. “I’m glad things worked out so well.”

Akechi tried to shout something, but the words died in his throat. His face was contorted in anger, and he tried to form some words through his attempt at a scream, but all he could muster behind it was a faint, whispery wheeze. There was a congested sort of fluttering noise as he tried to take in a breath, as a mess of petals were pulled back into his windpipe. Both of his hands flew up to his neck and he choked violently again, but he could barely even properly cough anymore, he couldn’t get enough air in to force any back out, so he just weakly wheezed and gagged, desperately trying to take a breath that would never come.

There was a bit of a blush spreading across Haru’s face as she watched, a single dainty hand raised to her lips as if to cover her mischievous smile. Her blush deepened as she realized her surroundings again, and realized Akira was looking absolutely terrified, the poor thing.

“Oh! Um!” Haru let out a bit of a flustered squeak. “Akira-kun, you should, um… You should go! You don’t need to see this! Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry…!”

Akira didn’t need to be told twice, and ran for the door, turning the sign to ‘closed’ as he went. He kept his head down and avoided Akechi’s gaze, scared he’d see a plea for help in those eyes. If he had wanted Akira’s help, it was a few weeks too late for that.

Yusuke remained, his transfixed stare every bit as curious and fascinated as it was unsettled and horrified. With Akira gone, and seeing that Yusuke wasn’t quite so upset about the circumstances, Haru shook away the blush and let her smile settle back onto her face. 

Akechi’s struggling was growing quieter and quieter. There was no more violent hacking, no more screaming, just silent desperation and agony on his face. He threw his arms out, taking hold of the legs of one of the barstools and holding on with a violently quivering white-knuckle grip to brace himself as he made empty, silent heaving motions, trying and failing to keep fighting his life-or-death battle against the petals.

“It’s quite the sight, isn’t it, Yusuke-kun?” Haru mused, in a tone that almost had a bit of a sultry inflection to it - not that it came across well through her soft, high-pitched voice. “It’s like poetry… Something as beautiful and pure as love, tearing someone apart from the inside without mercy… Feeling inspired?”

Yusuke’s jaw was hanging open, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the sight, but he managed to slowly nod.

Even through all his pain, Akechi’s tear-soaked eyes found Haru’s for just a moment, with a crazed, wild anger making itself known for just a moment before he collapsed into silent heaves again. Haru’s smile grew, and her blush deepened. It was wonderful to know that even this far gone, he was still aware enough to be upset about being toyed with.

So, she leaned in a little bit closer. “Even if I had to say no, I’m very grateful you found the courage to tell me how you feel, Akechi-kun! It must’ve been quite difficult for you, if it took you this long… If it’s any consolation, you’ve really made me happy, today! And don’t you just want your beloved to be happy~?”

She hummed contentedly, closing her eyes for just a moment. Her face was perfectly serene, if tinted a bit red from the shivers she was feeling inside.

Akechi’s hands both reached up to his head and gripped it from either side. The tension in his face finally started to fade, somewhat. He couldn’t maintain the angry expression anymore, he just looked afraid and disoriented. His chest was moving erratically, still trying to somehow brute-force a breath through. He looked dizzy. He looked pale. He was unsteady. He looked like he was trying to feel afraid, but couldn’t manage it through the pain and haze in his oxygen-starved brain. 

It hardly looked like there was anything left of Akechi behind his eyes anymore. But there was still just a hint of life, there. Just a hint of awareness. He was looking, he was listening, he was trying to understand.

Haru felt electric. Her entire body was tingling with excitement, and her heart was racing. It was a challenge to keep composed, as she watched the light in his eyes fade.

It was really just priceless, seeing the killer brought so low like this.

She crouched down, and looked him dead in the eyes with her cutest, most innocent, softest face. "Oh, don't look so upset!” She smiled. Her excitement was showing through, despite her best efforts. “Didn't you say this was what you loved about this side of me? Am I reminding you of your bitter, vengeful self, right now?" 

Akechi collapsed.

Haru giggled, sat back up straight, took her cup of coffee in her hand, lifted it to her lips and drank the last of it.

"Maybe now, you understand why I might not be so fond of you."

A spasm, a twitch.

“Good night, Akechi-kun.”

And Akechi went still.


End file.
